The Western Pacific Gas Industry Exhibition (GASEX 2008) will generate valuable opportunities for Vietnamese and foreign enterprises to exchange experiences and will help promote investment into this promising field, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said.

At the opening ceremony of the three-day exhibition in Ha Noi Thursday, Hung also said sustainable development of the oil and gas industry was central to the strategy for development of Viet Nam’s energy sector through 2025.

GASEX 2008 is the first such exhibition held in Viet Nam. Themed "Integration and Sustainable Development," GASEX 2008 will focus on regional and global problems; the development of the energy and gas sectors; gas trading; natural gas exploitation technologies and gas management skills.

The Government would continue perfecting the legal framework and infrastructure to help the industry develop comprehensively, he said, noting that the Government has already created favourable conditions for investors in the sector.

PetroVietnam director general Tran Ngoc Canh also told the opening ceremony about the Bach Ho gas field, an important clean energy resource with a total output of 1.5-2 billion cu.m of gas per year.

While natural gas is a primary resource in power generation and fertiliser production,Viet Nam has only three gas pipelines in the south with a total length of 1,000km, Canh said. PetroVietnam was planning to build additional gas pipelines that would connect the country with other countries in the region, he added.

Tie-up with Egypt

In a press release yesterday, PetroVietnam also announced that it had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.

The MoU expressed the intent of both sides to bolster co-operation in oil and gas exploration, exploitation and production in Egypt, Viet Nam or a third nation.

Since last year, PetroVietnam has sought to acquire a major stake in the South Siwa Lot project in Egypt, managed by Al Thani Investment Group. If approved by Egyptian authorities, PetroVietnam would become operator of the project.